Pre-production
(Week 1 - 6)
Brainstorming idea
Since the competition theme is Malaysia Madani, we got several idea in mind. But 2 idea stands out the most which are:
An first person action game where player collects and recycle trash
And third person city life simulator where player must pay their debts.
In the end, we decided on the second idea since it is more original and fun at the time.
We also have chosen Unreal Engine 5.0 for our project for several reasons:
- New lumen features looks great.
- The Blueprint system seems more straightforward and easy to pick up
- Plenty of new learning resources since the 5.0 updates
- We want to increase our skills and portfolio
and more.
Sketching the idea
The game will contains 4 main gameplay features/mechanic which is:
Third person movement in an interactive world.
Overworld map with destination that player can explore
Dialogue system
Simple minigame when the players are working
Stats
Players have stats that they need to maintain and balance. Those stats are:
01
Health
Pretty straightforward. Health decreases when player's mood and hunger are too low. Player however won't die if their health is low. They only can't work.
02
Hunger
In order to maintain their hunger, player will need to eat at restaurant. Players will add hunger whenever they are traveling to new destination.
03
Mood
Mood is player's current mental wellbeing. Player's mood will be worsen every time they works. Mood can be replenished by reading books at library.
04
Knowledge
Knowledge represent player's current skill. Knowledge will increase player's payout when working. Knowledge can be gained by reading or attending classes.
05
Money
Money can be used to purchase food, attend class and more. Money is also used to pay player's debt in order to get good ending. Money can be earned by working.
OTHER than conceptualization, this time is also used to learn Unreal engine itself
production
(Week 7 - 9)
dialogue system
Dialogue system is the earliest and hardest features to implement. The system need to be simple and modular to make sure that written script can easily be inserted into the game.
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The system also need to allow multiple branches and player's choices.
At first, I tried to use external files to save the dialogue, but it is hard to keep track of current NPC and branches with this system.
My attempts to save dialogue data using .csv file
In the end, I've decided to use the Unreal's Blueprint to save the data. This is good since the blueprint itself are easy to understand and modify.
Branching dialogues are easy to implement
Dialogue's text and player's choices are also easy to change
Early build's dialogue interface
Latest build's dialogue interface
Every time the player goes to another place, there is a chance that the player will encounter a random NPC. The situation could either benefit or hinder the player depending on the player's choices
Random encounter
Example of a random encounters.
We've planned for 20 random encounters. But due to time limitation, only 7 scenarios were implemented
level design
All of the levels are designed by my teammates.
Each level have their own purposes. For example, player can go to clinic to restore their health, library to restore moods and more.
minigame
In order to make working harder and more fun, we've added a little minigame. How well the player plays the minigame will affect their wage.
POST production
(Week 10 - 12)
Finishing and debugging
By week 11, most of features are implemented but the game is pretty buggy and rough.
Some of the bug that I have encountered are:
- Outside is bright during night
- NPC keep repeating their dialogue
- Player health's are reduced to 0 every time they sleep
- Stats not properly updating
- Player stuck inside their bedroom
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and more..
1 week is required to smooth out all of the bugs and another week to add finishing touches.
Promotional materials
For the competition, we are also required to make some promotional materials.
For the poster, we used minimalistic approach
Thanks to Unreal Engine's versatile cinema camera, we're easily able to create a simple and cinematic trailer
Early shirt design
D-Day
(Week 13)
THE SHOWCASE
The day we've all been waiting for.
Our showcase setup
Preparing the booth
Simple educational infographic related to our game
Showcasing the game to the judges
Overall good impressions
THE RESULTS
We got 1st place/Platinum awards for our game
We got 1st place/Platinum awards for our game
Conclusion
The competition was very fun and eye opening. I would like to thanks my team (Joel, Hanim & Nagula) for their cooperation and for being a great teammates. I also like to thanks our mentor and supervisor, Dr. Raidah for her guidance.